News from Seattle's Office of Economic Development

Do you need some last minute help with your taxes? StartZone offers FREE tax preparation workshops and filing assistance to self-employed individuals in King County. In addition to the tax preparation workshops, they also offer Super Saturdays and the opportunity to schedule an appointment to meet with a trained tax specialist.

StartZone’s Super Saturday events provide the opportunity for the public to walk in, meet with trained and supervised volunteers who can help prepare your Schedule C tax form, and then have your taxes completed and filed.

The Washington State Department of Revenue has launched a new website that enables consumers to research the operations of businesses and companies that they are interested in. Suspectfraud.com allows consumers to check whether a business is legally registered and licensed and pays its taxes. Site visitors may also submit reports to the state for further investigation, in the event of suspicion of fraud. Tax and license fraud includes: not registering an operating business; collecting, but not remitting sales tax; or registering a vehicle, vessel, or plane out-of-state if the vehicle is used in this state and use tax was not paid.

Suspectfraud.com is managed primarily by the Washington State Department of Revenue and the Department of Labor and Industries. Individuals can look up a licensed business by using the business or owner name, the Unified Business Identifier/tax registration number, or the reseller permit number. One may also report a suspected violation.

In addition to Suspectfraud.com, please visit the Washington State Department of Revenue’s website to access helpful resources on business taxes, rates, workshops and education.

Small businesses are a vital part of Seattle’s economy – and this week, many will receive tax relief from new business and occupation (B&O) tax legislation. Mayor Greg Nickels has signed legislation raising the threshold for the amount of gross income a business earns before paying B&O taxes in Seattle to $100,000, from the current $80,000. The legislation was passed by the City Council last week.

“This is the right action at the right time to help more of our small businesses weather the current economic downturn. I applaud the Council for taking this step to help our local businesses and economy,” said Nickels.

The current legislation will affect about 3,000 small businesses, saving them about $500,000 in 2010.

“We are a local family-owned restaurant located close to the Mt. Baker Station with three employees, and this tax break will help our business,” said Yilikal Ademe, owner of Café Ibex.

“In these tough economic times, we want to do everything possible to create jobs and help businesses grow,” said Nickels.

Known as the “employee hours tax” or “head tax,” the annual $25 per employee tax was initially introduced in 2006 to fund city-wide transportation projects. The head tax has long been opposed by local business owners, who find the tax unnecessary and difficult to administer.

“We have worked closely with the mayor over the past few months to identify obstacles to economic growth and we agree that repeal of this tax will encourage job growth,” Councilmember Burgess said. “The employee hours tax has generated less revenue than anticipated, but more importantly it has negative consequences because it taxes the creation of new jobs.”

In repealing the tax, Nickels, Burgess, and Conlin hope to signal the city’s dedication to job growth and business satisfaction.

“We asked the business community what would help them get back on their feet, and this was one of their first suggestions. That’s why my Committee of the Whole on Economic Recovery decided to address this issue. We’re removing a barrier to getting people back to work,” said Council President Conlin.

Read more Seattle Times’ coverage of the employee head tax here.
Read the Mayor’s full press release.